The Buckeyes have it, or do they?

WOGENRICH

October 27, 2002|By Mark Wogenrich Of The Morning Call

The kids in the end zone waved Fiesta Bowl towels and wore these ridiculous, yellow tortilla-chip hats (Tostitos being the championship-game sponsor and all). Do they know something the rest of us don't?

This couldn't possibly be the face of a national-championship team. Championship teams don't struggle with Cincinnati, even on the road. They don't build the offense around a freshman, even one as talented as Maurice Clarett. They don't allow 260 yards passing per game.

National-championship teams, however, do this. They keep the ball 37 minutes a game. They hold the nation's 10th-leading rusher to eight second-half yards.

They win without people. Maybe that's most important.

The Buckeyes had every reason to lose to Penn State on Saturday. Starting right tackle Shane Olivea missed the game after undergoing an appendectomy Tuesday. Injured linebacker Cie Grant ceded to true freshman A.J. Hawk. And Clarett, a legitimate Heisman contender at running back, left the game in the first quarter with a shoulder injury.

That the kids with the Fiesta Bowl towels and ridiculous hats still celebrated a 13-7 victory underscored the Buckeyes' resilience. Maybe they're national-championship material after all.

"Extraordinary," Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said after the game. Four times. He had every reason.

The Buckeyes did what no other team has done to Penn State this season -- hold Larry Johnson to fewer than 100 yards rushing and Zack Mills to fewer than 100 yards passing in the same game. They forced three turnovers, turning one into their only touchdown.

They made the Penn State offense of 2002 look like the Penn State offense of September 2001. Or the Penn State offense that perpetually visits Ohio Stadium.

The Lions will need something new when they come back here in 2004. In five trips to the Horseshoe since 1993, Penn State has scored 35 points. Total.

This time, the Buckeyes routed their defense to the big play. In State College last year, they bit on a few Zack Mills play-action passes and let him whip the crowd with a 69-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

Specifically to squelch that, Ohio State started receiver Chris Gamble at cornerback. Gamble responded with a 40-yard interception return for a touchdown.

Last year, Mills stretched the Ohio State defense with the option. Penn State tried it again this year, to little avail. The Buckeyes' speed outside burned the play time after time.

"I was happy they ran the option against us, because they were doing it against a speed defense," Tressel said. "Our guys were running them down. They met a defense on a mission."

This season, Larry Johnson has hit holes and shed tacklers with willful abandon, in turn creating long gains from small chances. His first carry of the day, a 35-yard run, signaled a potentially big day.

After that, Johnson gained 31 yards on 17 carries. He had no chance to shed tackles because he was swarmed by defenders at every turn.

"He breaks the ankle- and arm-tackles, so all we wanted to do was hit him," Ohio State linebacker Matt Wilhelm said. "Front him up and hit him hard and let him know we're there."

This was a defensive rescue, no doubt about it. Who knows how different the game would have been had Clarett not been injured. For all the kind words Tressel had for backups Lydell Ross and Maurice Hall, Clarett still was the team's second-leading rusher. And he carried only four times.

The Buckeyes' offense was ineffective, mistake-prone (four turnovers) and Bible Belt conservative in the fourth quarter. Penn State probably shouldn't have had so many chances to score in the second half. But it did. And the Buckeyes stopped every one.

Can they keep doing it? They'll need Clarett healthy, obviously, and better pass protection for Krenzel. They'll need the secondary to play like that every week. And they'll need to beat Minnesota and Michigan (though both games are at home).

But Ohio State, which appeared pointed toward a title run in 2003, may have the moxie to go a year early. And maybe those redclads will take their tortilla-chip hats to Tempe in January.